Alternative Routes into the Teaching Profession

This article examines the ways in which the development of alternative initial teacher education programs in England and Canada over the last two decades serve to challenge some of the taken-for-granted assumptions underlying established models of initial teacher education in both jurisdictions, and also to broaden the pool of people who have access to the profession. The article offers a brief, initial account of the development of a standard model of initial teacher education in both countries that is characterized as being: university governed and university based; primarily full-time; incorporating a standard curriculum, with admission requirements that generally reflect the traditional academic expectations of the university; and which is funded jointly by the student and the state. Against this standard model the article examines the development of alternative or flexible models in both Canada and England. Three programs are described in some detail – The Brandon University Northern Teacher Education Program, The University of Manitoba’s Weekend College Teacher Education Program, and The University of Nottingham’s Flexible, Modularized Post-Graduate Certificate in Education Program – and each is examined in terms of the ways in which it challenges the assumptions embedded in traditional teacher education programs. At a time when attracting talented and committed teachers constitutes an important issue facing public education systems in both countries, the ability to construct high quality initial teacher education programs that can provide access to the profession to as wide a cross-section of the population as possible will be an important contribution to meeting this challenge.     

A multilevel latent growth curve approach to predicting student proficiency

Value-added models and growth-based accountability aim to evaluate school??s performance based on student growth in learning. The current focus is on linking the results from value-added models to the ones from growth-based accountability systems including Adequate Yearly Progress decisions mandated by No Child Left Behind. We present a new statistical approach that extends the current value-added modeling possibilities and focuses on using latent longitudinal growth curves to estimate the probabilities of students reaching proficiency. The aim is to utilize time-series measures of student achievement scores to estimate latent growth curves and use them as predictors of a dichotomous outcome, such as proficiency or passing a high-stakes exam, within a single multilevel longitudinal model. We illustrated this method through analyzing a three-year data set of longitudinal achievement scores and California High School Exit Exam scores from a large urban school district. This latent variable growth logistic model is useful for (1) early identification of students at risk of failing or of those who are most in need; (2) a validation or/and adequacy of student growth over years with relation to distal outcome criteria; (3) evaluation of a longitudinal intervention study.     

Constructive and instructive representation

Abstract

Beginning teachers of mathematics are likely to have noted the development of powerful multiple representation software which offers children access to the many modalities through which mathematics is expressed. We argue that embedded, even hidden, within such software are many mathematics conventions, which the naive learner has to unravel in order to construct meaning for those representations. We contrast such representations, which we label as instructive, with those children construct through the use of expressive software; this contrast is seen as analogous to aspects of literacy. We identify various characteristics of these two distinctive forms of representation.     

The PASS-Q: the perceived available support in sport questionnaire

This article provides initial evidence for the construct validity of the Perceived Available Support in Sport Questionnaire (PASS-Q), which assesses emotional, esteem, informational, and tangible support. In Study 1, confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for a four-dimension factor structure. Correlations supported hypothesized relationships between the PASS-Q dimensions and the Social Support Survey questions (Richman, Rosenfeld, & Hardy, 1993). In Study 2, the four-dimension factor structure was supported in an independent sample. Further, higher levels of perceived available emotional, esteem, informational, and tangible support were associated with higher levels of self-confidence and lower levels of burnout. Researchers are encouraged to use the PASS-Q to examine the effects of perceived available support in sport contexts.     

The research-teaching nexus in nurse and teacher education: contributions of an ecological approach to academic identities in professional fields

In developing graduates for the knowledge society lecturers in higher education may seek to strengthen links between research and teaching. Much of the previous work on the research-teaching nexus is within traditional universities and subject disciplines. In aiming to deepen understanding of the research and teaching nexus this paper focuses on the academic identities of higher education lecturers working in newer higher education institutions and in the professional fields of nursing and of teacher education. A qualitative study, informed by professional identity construction as an ecological concept, was conducted. The findings align with previous studies concerning similarities between lecturers in nurse and teacher education, but they contrast with previous studies concerning differences between these two groups of lecturers. Similarities include the priority given by professional educators to their responsibility for preparing new clinical practitioners; the research-led model as the lecturers’ main approach to the research-teaching nexus; and their difficulties in coping with current demands in academic work. Differences between the two groups of lecturers include the way that ‘practitioner identity’ is positioned within their current academic identities and the way that they position initial education within the wider professional field. These differences indicate different kinds of connections between teaching and research. The paper proposes an ecological approach to understanding the research-teaching nexus.     

Goodfellow,Robin & Lea,Mary R ed (2013) Literacy in the digital university Routledge (New York & London) isbn 978‐0‐415‐53797‐1 213 pp £24.99 http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415537971/

This book brings together practice and theory from the interface between academic and digital literacy, learning and teaching, and learning technologies. It argues for the importance of digital literacy at the heart of approaches to learning and teaching in the modern university. It is highly recommended for teachers, educational developers, practitioners in learning technology, and policy makers in higher education. Indeed, if this book's content is likely to be relevant to you, I recommend you buy a copy for yourself. Pete Cannell